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Church Marketing Blog

Church marketing personnel need to be up-to-date with the latest church marketing strategies and resources to successfully implement the church / parish marketing plan. This church marketing blog enables church marketing personnel to engage in blog discussions relating to the church marketing issues of today. The 'Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed)', 2011, by Bryan Foster, forms the basis for most of these blog posts.

Devising an effective church and parish marketing plan is
essential for any successful church and parish community - know what it
really is, why it is needed and how to develop and implement one for
success - know the 5 Key strategies.

A. Overview

There are a number of crucial aspects which impact on this plan:

• Planning
• Manager
• Budget
• Support Structure
• Evaluation

A successful plan is a lot more than the logo, stationery and
newsletter. It should also be careful to avoid 'dressing-up' the
institution in a way which cannot be supported.

The right person / people, managing the right marketing plan, being
given a realistic budget and support and using continual evaluation
techniques and feedback are high priorities for a successful marking
plan. Often tough decisions need to be made. However, it is absolutely
critical to - be well prepared!

Big or small church and parish budgets can both have varying degrees of success. Know your market and its needs and develop plans accordingly:

• A longer term plan often eases that initial budget constraint.
• Success often leads to more success.
• Decision makers become open to more appropriate budgets.

B. Who needs a Marketing Plan?

All professionals, businesses, institutes and services need one.
Informing the community is seen by most to be an important aspect of
their mission. It also leads to the best promoters of the product /
service, etc.

C. Analysis of the Marketing Plan

• Parish Priest ultimately responsible for the plan.
• Based on the Vision and Mission Statement.
• Used to market to the community. The community includes all people who know, or those who you want to know, about the church.
• Strategies used within a defined budget.
• Inform all stakeholders, and other targeted groups, of the benefits and successes.
• Informs about aspects which may be of interest / products, etc.
• Needs to plan for issues which may arise of a controversial nature.
• Inform and emphasize the real nature of the parish and the direction being planned for or presently implementing.
• Realistic budget is an integral part.
• Relatively inexpensive when viewed in the terms of the potential gains made - reputation, etc.
• Benefit from the combination of views of staff and other parishioners, etc, associated.
• In the initial stages of developing the first real plan it is often
best to include a variety of interest groups for gaining ideas and
suggestions about how best to market. These thoughts may then be used as
felt necessary.
• The principal office holder needs input and has the overall responsibility to implement the plan.

D. Be ethical...

Apart from being unethical, more than likely, any unethical aspects
would eventually become apparent as being incorrect to the stakeholders
and others. This would have an adverse impact on the group's /
institute's reputation and hence targeted group and community's
involvement.

E. Simple or Complex?

The plan may be as simple or as complex as needed to achieve the desired outcomes. The plan is needed whether:

• a presently has a large sales / product / service base or
• it is about to re/open or
• it is losing market share.

The best time to market is when it is successful. At this stage there
are so many approaches which may be taken to highlight the benefits.
However, it usually becomes an issue and a necessity when sales or
numbers involved are dropping, or when competition is opening need by or
improving themselves. At this stage a specifically targeted program is
required. Don't be caught out!

The 'Church Marketing Plan - 5 Key What, Why and How Strategies' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed),
- the paperback and ebook manual for Church communications and marketing
personnel - 304 pages of easy to read and implement summarized
points, which allow for a considerably large number of quality stategies and examples to be
detailed
and
available for church marketing personnel - with copyright
remaining GDPL. Book available from Amazon.com and Createspace.com

Comments

The difficult, challenging question posed by an interviewer will often occur at a media interview - it needs to be responded to during the interviewor shortly afterwards.

The last resort is the, "No comment," response. If time is needed to
gain an accurate response, then advise the interviewer that you will
find the answer and get back in as reasonable time as possible.

In theChurch setting this can be quite a challenge,
particularly when church personnel are not experienced to receive such
requests or skilled with the necessary response techniques. There is
also the inherent fear of damaging the Church's hard earned reputation
if the response is incorrect or not given in a credible way.

Below is a suggested response for the Church marketing personnel. This includes:

• Being prepared for the interview and anticipating negative questions
• Interview techniques to assist

* Have an eexperienced expert media / PR advisor working closely with you and your church through these difficult times. These people be church employess or outside consultants.

Be Prepared - A Response Method

• Anticipate the sort of negative questions which might arise and prepare good responses.
• Have your key 3-4 positive points you would like to make.

It may also be necessary to make arrangements with the interviewee prior
to the interview, and before the journalist arrives, that the Church
Marketing Manager would interject respectfully if the interviewee was
getting particularly stressed or confused during the interview. This is
particularly necessary if the person being interviewed is a child /
student. There is always a duty of care to assist the child firstly and
respond to the interviewer only secondly.

Key techniques during the interview when asked a difficult question requiring a response are usually:

1. Acknowledge the weakness (apologize if needed)

2. Agree that plans are afoot to improve the situation

3. Continually revert back to the 3-4 key positive points you want to make.

The Serious or Controversial Issue - Interview

Dealing with a serious or controversial issue involves having staff well
trained with important interview techniques. These techniques are
usually coordinated by the church's authorities who have qualified staff
to train urch personnel.

The techniques above would often form the basis for such difficult
interviews. These interviews often result from alleged controversial or
illegal incidents, involving staff or parishioners.

These days the difficult media question is a stock question of the
journalist's profession. There is nothing better for a church's
reputation when these questions are responded to well and those being
informed through the interview see a professional approach being shown
and implemented. Be informed, prepared and skilled with the various
interview techniques.

The 'The Difficult Media Question During an Interview - a Response' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed),
- the paperback and ebook manual for Church communications and marketing
personnel - 304 pages of easy to read and implement summarized
points, which allow for a considerably large number of quality stategies and examples to be
detailed
and
available for church marketing personnel - with copyright
remaining GDPL. Book available from Amazon.com and Createspace.com and all good bookstores.

Comments

The Contents listed below are from the Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2011, by Bryan Foster. This is a 304 page paperback and e-book written in easy to read summarized format. The author has 20 years marketing experience in leadership roles within the Church and Catholic education.

Video uploads including You Tube
Uploading Video to Church Website
Uploading Video to You Tube
Instructions to Embed Video
Instructions to Embed Video on Your Site Using Example

Skype Why Skype as Part of the Church Marketing Plan?
Skype Explained

Chat Rooms Hotmail in Windows Live Sample
Benefits of ‘Chatting’
Chat Room for a Church
Sample Chat Room
Overview of Windows Live Messenger
Download Other Aspects of Windows Live
Sign Up Process
Get Chatting

Powerful Stakeholders
Insiders’ Views
Diplomacy
Confidence in the Church and Parish
Parish’s Reputation is Paramount
Nielsen Survey Results and Extrapolation

Parish Open Day
Overview
Reasons for Attendance
Strategies
Promotional Materials
Best Time
Venues
Uniformity
Addresses
Parishioner and Parental Involvement

Church - School Relationships
Improved Church – School Relationships
Church Leadership
Parish Engagement
Priests
Parish – School Liturgies and Groups
Other Key Church Personnel Engagement
Improved School – School Relationships
Strategies to Build Stronger School – School Relationships
Priests Publicly Support Schools
Principal Intervention for Non-Supportive Staff and Parents

Feeder School Visitations
Introduction
Role of Priests
Role of School Staff
Year Levels Visited
Presentation Overview
Room and Facilities
Preparation Before Visitations
Preparation on the Day
Sample Visitation Presentation Agenda

Traditional Media
Do not be Afraid of the Media. Be Respectful.
Positive Relations
Church Contact Person
Media Release
Direct Contact with Media Outlets and Journalists
Balanced Relationship Needed
CMM’s Availability
Be Careful – Do Not Seem Uninterested

Creating a Radio Advertisement + Instructions + Sample
Overview for Success
Scripts
Readers / Voice
Recordings – CMM Role
Recording Cautions
Live Reads and Other Cautions
Recordings for Church Community / Website / On-Hold
Copyright
Campaign Advertisement Play Time

Television Advertising
Beware the Challenges
Quality
Large Cities
Smaller Cities and Towns
Television Station Advertising List – Learn from …

Creating a Television Advertisement
The Proposal
Professional Quote / Presentation Proposal
CMM and Advertisement Preparations
Include Parish Personnel and Facilities
CMM’s Role in Production

Action Plan Activity

Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

The 'Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2011, by Bryan Foster - CONTENTS' blog post written by Bryan Foster, author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed),
- the paperback and ebook manual for Church communications and marketing
personnel - 304 pages of easy to read and implement summarized
points, which allow for a considerably large number of quality stategies and examples to be
detailed
and
available for church marketing personnel - with copyright
remaining GDPL. Book available from Amazon.com and Createspace.com

“I find Bryan Foster’s new book will help considerably with marketing our Catholic parishes in the modern world. I am especially drawn to the chapters on Parish – School relationships and the uses of the internet, in particular the parish ..”